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Osage Minerals Council election supervisor certifies results despite two challenges

Photo Caption: Osage Minerals Councilwoman Cynthia Boone, who is challenging the June 4 minerals council election results, asks Osage Minerals Council Election Supervisor Billie Ponca questions about Election Day. SHANNON SHAW DUTY/Osage News

With two challenges still pending and a final report yet to be released, the Osage Minerals Council did not take any election action at its June 15 meeting.

“We don’t really have the ability to vote on anything,” Councilman Talee Redcorn said. “I don’t know what we can do, and I would be uncomfortable doing anything right now.”

“I’m not asking for a vote on anything today,” Councilwoman Cynthia Boone replied. “These are just concerns my constituents are contacting me about.”

Boone and Linda Heskett filed challenges with the Minerals Council Election Board on June 11, contesting the results of the June 4 election. Boone finished ninth while Heskett finished 12th among the 14 candidates.

In their petitions, both ask that the election results be thrown out due to Election Day changes to the voter roll, including addresses being updated and shareholders added to the list. 

Voting for the eight Osage Minerals Council seats is restricted to tribal citizens older than the age of 18 whose names appear on the quarterly annuity roll at the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Pawhuska Agency as of the last payment prior to Election Day.

When questioned by Boone in open session, Minerals Council Election Board Supervisor Billie Ponca said three voter addresses were updated on Election Day and up to 10 people were sent to the Office of the Special Trustee and the BIA to verify their status as shareholders after their names did not appear on the voter roll.

“A BIA employee offered to help,” she said. “She verified people and they were allowed to vote.”

Under Part 25 of the Code of Federal Regulations, of which the Osage Minerals Council election board has modeled its election code, any challenges or disputes to the voter roll are supposed to be addressed by the election board at least three days prior to the election.

Additionally, the Code of Federal Regulations only spells out recount procedures for the Minerals Council Election Board. As per a signed statement from Ponca, TrueBallot conducted a recount on June 13, which yielded the same results as those released on June 4. With the recount matching the Election Day returns, Ponca certified the election results on June 13.

Boone also raised concerns about absentee balloting, asking about the glitches with postage and envelopes that impacted about 50 absentee ballots.

“We counted all absentee ballots as long as they were in our post office box by June 4,” Ponca said.

Ponca’s final report on the election is scheduled to be presented to the council at its June 20 meeting.

The Fourth Minerals Council is scheduled to be sworn in on July 2, with its members also participating in the July 14 inauguration ceremony in Ponca City for the executive, legislative and judicial branches. 


By

Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton


Original Publish Date: 2018-06-15 00:00:00

Author

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Shannon Shaw Duty
Shannon Shaw Dutyhttps://osagenews.org

Title: Editor
Email: sshaw20@gmail.com
Twitter: @dutyshaw
Topic Expertise: Columnist, Culture, Community
Languages spoken: English, Osage (intermediate), Spanish (beginner)

Shannon Shaw Duty, Osage from the Grayhorse District, is the editor of the award-winning Osage News, the official independent media of the Osage Nation. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a master’s degree in Legal Studies with an emphasis in Indigenous Peoples Law. She currently sits on the Freedom of Information Committee for the Society of Professional Journalists. She has served as a board member for LION Publishers, as Vice President for the Pawhuska Public Schools Board of Education, on the Board of Directors for the Native American Journalists Association (now Indigenous Journalists Association) and served as a board member and Chairwoman for the Pawhuska Johnson O’Malley Parent Committee. She is a Chips Quinn Scholar, a former instructor for the Freedom Forum’s Native American Journalism Career Conference and the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute. She is a former reporter for The Santa Fe New Mexican. She is a 2012 recipient of the Native American 40 Under 40 from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. In 2014 she helped lead the Osage News to receive NAJA's Elias Boudinot Free Press Award. The Osage News won Best Newspaper from the SPJ-Oklahoma Chapter in their division 2018-2022. Her award-winning work has been published in Indian Country Today, The Washington Post, the Center for Public Integrity, NPR, the Associated Press, Tulsa World and others. She currently resides in Pawhuska, Okla., with her husband and together they share six children, two dogs and two cats.

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